Project Management Articles

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 6th March 2007 @ 12:35 AM

Utilizing The Skills Of Black Belts Most people believe that Six Sigma is for large organizations and is not cost effective for small businesses. However, this is just a misconception because 6 Sigma concepts and methodologies can be tweaked to make them deployable in small business organizations as well. Deploying 6 Sigma in small businesses has been made possible with the development of new tools and techniques that can be altered to suit all types of processes, be it a simple process i... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Monday, 5th March 2007 @ 12:20 AM

Six Sigma is a program that deals with quality management and is designed to achieve an outstanding level of quality for products. Motorola was the first company to pioneer this process in the mid-eighties and since then it has been adopted by many other companies and manufacturers. Service companies, in order to enhance customer service and relations also utilize these strategies. 6 Sigma has evolved from a normal distribution curve where failures in quality and customer satisfaction arise afte... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Monday, 5th March 2007 @ 12:20 AM

Six Sigma is a continuous procedure, which can help companies reduce the over all expenses and expenditures, and increase profits by streamlining operations, improving quality and eliminating all the problem areas. Not only does 6 Sigma benefit an organization, but also the organization can benefit Six Sigma by managing it. Management must be led by highly qualified and trained individuals. Managing a 6 Sigma team is not an easy task and it is fairly impossible for a single person to man... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Sunday, 4th March 2007 @ 12:21 AM

IDOV is a commonly used Six Sigma methodology and stands for Identify, Design, Optimize and Verify. It is a variant of DFSS or Design For Six Sigma, which is used for designing a completely new product or business process to meet customer needs and specifications or to achieve Six Sigma quality levels. As a methodology, IDOV is very different from DMAIC or define, measure, analyze, improve and control, which is used only for optimizing the existing products or business processes. IDOV consists o... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Sunday, 4th March 2007 @ 12:19 AM

Six Sigma can be successfully deployed in any industry irrespective of size. 6 Sigma concepts are designed in accordance with the basic characteristics of a business and not the size of a business. Businesses that do not have adequate resources for deploying Six Sigma can get help from 6 Sigma professionals such as Black Belts or Master Black Belts who have plenty of experience in deploying Six Sigma. Businesses that do not want an organization-wide deployment can opt for a pilot project where 6... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Saturday, 3rd March 2007 @ 12:38 AM

Six Sigma uses statistical analysis and data to formulate a disciplined method to improve the company's operations. This is done after identifying and eliminating errors in the manufacturing and service related processes. Some of the common myths regarding 6 Sigma are: Six Sigma Is A Quality Management Initiative The idea that 6 Sigma is a quality management initiative is believed to have originated in South Africa. Total Quality Management, or TQM, and Six Sigma are ... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Friday, 2nd March 2007 @ 10:25 PM

Motorola, Allied Signal, GE and Honeywell are some the companies that started and refined the Six Sigma quality concept. The methodology includes the use of an advanced set of tools, designed to solve problems faced by the company and improvement in the quality of work. Enterprise Cost Reduction Companies should conduct a thorough check of the costs involved, in the same way that they view revenue generation and market expansion. Enterprise cost reduction is a wider approac... more...

Business » Project Management | By Ryan Smith @ Monday, 26th February 2007 @ 1:03 PM

Those who are considering outsourcing portions of work for the first time may be feeling overwhelmed and hesitant about the concept of relying on someone outside the company to complete work related tasks. The discomfort with deciding whether or not to outsource work stems largely from ignorance about the process of outsourcing. This article will serve as a guide to those who are considering outsourcing for the first time and will provide information on how to select qualified candidates... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 5:09 PM

Six Sigma projects can be defined as the process through which companies are able to reduce defects and improve the quality of business processes. However, the success of any Six Sigma project depends on a number of factors such as clearly defined objectives, management support and approval, and proper training of Six Sigma teams associated with the project. For ensuring the success of Six Sigma projects, senior management issues a project charter, which clearly defines the specific goal... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 5:06 PM

Six Sigma is usually associated with the complete overhaul of existing business processes, to reduce shortcomings and improve the quality of goods and services. Due to this belief, many companies with insufficient resources often avoid implementing the 6 Sigma concepts and methodologies in their business processes. These companies are often unaware that the Six Sigma concepts and methodologies can also be implemented with innovative shortcuts. These shortcuts are known to have the same affect on... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 5:17 PM

Businesses that want to improve overall quality are often faced with the difficult task of selecting the most effective quality improvement technique from available options such as Six Sigma and ISO 9000. For selecting the most suitable technique, businesses will have to look at the merits of each of these techniques and determine their applicability in the context of existing business processes. This is necessary because there is a vast difference in the concepts of both the approaches, which n... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 2:19 PM

Six Sigma implementation projects involve the collection and analysis of huge amounts of raw statistical data related to various aspects of a given business process. Collection and analysis of raw statistical data is necessary because it helps in the decision making process. Decisions that are backed by figures and statistics are more likely to produce desired results as compared to decisions that are based on gut feelings or personal opinions. The amount of data that needs to be collect... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 1:05 AM

Six Sigma concepts and methodologies are deployed in an organization through project implementations. The basic objective of all Six Sigma implementations is to reduce wastage by improving the efficiency of existing business processes. The aim is to design near-perfect business processes wherein the number of defects is no more than 3.4 per million opportunities that exist for such defects to occur. However, implementations are not always easy because it often involves overhauling the ex... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 1:05 AM

Information related to predetermined Six Sigma parameters is issued by the senior management through a document known as the "project charter". Aside from defining the Six Sigma parameters, the project charter also acts as an authorization certificate, allowing the project manager to allocate organizational resources towards the completion of the implementation projects. What Exactly Is A Project Charter? Every project is implemented for satisfying a business need. These ... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 1:02 AM

Six Sigma is a quality improvement technique that was originally devised by the Motorola Company in the 1970's. At that time, U.S. companies were facing stiff competition from Japanese companies that somehow managed to manufacture better quality products. The Motorola Company realized this when a Japanese firm took over its television manufacturing unit and drastically improved quality by reducing the number of defects to about 1/20th of the number of defects that occurred under Motorola ma... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 1:02 AM

Six Sigma quality improvement techniques lay stress on the use of mathematical and statistical tools that help in developing better quality products and services suited to the needs and requirements of customers. The aim is to achieve near perfect business processes wherein the number of defects are reduced to 3.4 per million opportunities that exist for such defects to occur. Reduced defects naturally translate into better quality products or services, which in turn help in increasing customer ... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 1:00 AM

Six Sigma quality improvement concepts and methodologies were originally devised for use in the manufacturing sector but with the development of newer technologies, it is now increasingly being implemented in the services sector as well. The basic aim of Six Sigma implementation projects is to reduce wastage of scarce resources by reducing the number of defects to less than 3.4 per million opportunities that exist for such defects to occur. These quality improvement techniques provide ac... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 12:59 AM

Although Six Sigma was originally devised as a quality improvement technique for the manufacturing industry, it is now increasingly being adopted by the services industry as well. The basic concepts and methodologies are more or less the same in the services sector where they are applied to both operational and non-operational processes. Defining Six Sigma Motorola was the first company to develop and implement Six Sigma concepts in its business processes. The main aim of the comp... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 12:43 AM

Six Sigma is a quality improvement technique that aims at reducing wastage by restricting the number of defects to not more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities that might exist for such defects to occur. Reduced wastage naturally results in lower production costs, which in turn helps an organization to maximize profits. Six Sigma also helps in developing customer loyalty and satisfaction because reduction in the number of defects means better quality products or services. Most Com... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 14th February 2007 @ 12:41 AM

Six Sigma implementations aim at achieving near perfect production wherein the number of defects is substantially reduced. However, implementations are definitely not easy because they often require a major overhaul of existing business processes, which in turn requires extensive analysis and documentation. Understanding The Six Sigma Pyramid Six Sigma quality levels can be described with the help of a pyramid, wherein the base of the pyramid represents the current quality levels... more...